Patricia Muses

I wonder what anyone who has visited New Orleans would most like to see again. The French Quarter seems to be o.k., and we heard that iconic sites such as the Cafe Du Monde are still standing. But what does your heart long for again? Mine is of course, for my home and my neighborhood. But I would give much to walk to the Garden District and smell the fragrance of a sweet olive tree, or of gardenias blooming wildly in the summer heat. At this time, the stench in the city is nearly overwhelming.

Truth to tell, I wouldn't mind seeing the lady who lived on the streets nearby. She would never talk to anyone, and seemed semi-content with her shopping cart home, occasionally stopping on a doorstep to relax and rest. We never knew her name. I wish I had. I would love to see and hear all the things that we used to think were crazy, like the man on the corner of Canal Street and Decatur, in the umbrella hat, preaching and dancing to a tune only he could hear.

I would love to go to Magazine Street and browse in the antique shops, and buy that crystal ball I always liked. Perhaps, if I could have foreseen Katrina...what? I could not have changed anything. But perhaps I would have lived every minute in New Orleans as a gift rather than as just my ordinary life. I would have breathed it in more fully, and felt its unique vibrations more intensely. In the hustle and bustle of Houston, I remember the sweet laid-back pace of home.

Write to Sharon and let us know what you want to re-visit.